I'm not surprised Shreveport is on here. The place just seems like a dump. There's absolutely nothing to do there. And crime in the city is horrible. The neighborhood just west of I-49 and south of I-20 is the most dangerous part of the city. New Orleans is the only reason that Louisiana is still getting visitors and tourists. And that city expected to be gone soon.
I received a full scholarship to Centenary College in Shreveport and nearly decided to go there...until I visited Shreveport. The campus itself is beautiful, but everything else is just sad. Concerns about my personal safety quickly made my parents suggest to me that even with the full scholarship it wasn't worth it.
And on the opposite end of US Route 171 is Lake Charles another violent crime infested urban dump that is just like Shreveport, decaying, declining, and dangerous.
As someone mentioned earlier West Virginia is done dirty by it's geography being the heart of Appalachia. The lack of diversity in the state's economy is just insult to injury.
Chuck here, a Tar Heel, but I always hurt for West Virginia because it truly is one of our nation's most beautiful states. It's geography, though, has done it no favors as you mentioned, but John Denver knew what he was singing.. "almost heaven, West Virginia"..
I used to fly for a regional airline out of Atlanta and this video was a big reminder of my time there. I've overnighted more times than I could ever count in Columbus, Peoria, Huntington, Jackson, Charleston, and Shreveport. Living in those cities is surely different than spending a few nights there but I have good memories from all of them.
Most of West Virginia is very beautiful and scenic. But Charleston and Huntington are along major rivers, leading to endless industrial brownfields 🏭 WV definitely needs to find a way to diversify away from coal.
Charleston, Huntington, and Wheeling all need to diversify their economies but until the regressive thinking and political corruption that plagues West Virginia keeps holding the state back, nothing is going to change for the better and more prosperous West Virginians will continue to leave for better more prosperous locales.
There are only about 11,500 and declining coal workers in all of WV! The state government continued fixation on it does no favors for the state's future. It's like a 90 year old man complaining every day about his no good ex-wife that left him in like 1973. Major action is needed as this is most definitely not a location many people are seeking to relocate to. One video claiming EVERYONE was suddenly migrating there was nonsensical. It was fewer than 5,000 people but that doesn't off-set the deaths greatly exceeding births.
Lived in Columbus, GA for 6 months. Population decline only tells half the story. The area is in demographic decline as well. More affluent demographics have been leaving Columbus to neighboring Harris county for years. And as you mentioned, many leave the area altogether for Atlanta. If you think Columbus is bad, Macon has the same issues as Columbus but even worse.
Columbus has the second biggest corporate presence in Georgia after Atlanta though, *by FAR* - AFLAC's headquarters are there, Synovus Bank, TSYS, Panasonic Energy of America, W.C. Bradley (Char-Broil, Badlands, Lamplight)
You might as well combine Macon and Atlanta‘s Metro in 15 years; it’s only separated by on county (Monroe) and later Athens may swallowed up by the A as well. Atlanta is just that GUY
@@leonation89 I live in Harris County Georgia and it is growing quickly, most who live here do not like that at all. Most who live here go to Columbus and Lagrange to enjoy restaurants, shopping etc then escape back to the rural isolated county to live. Law enforcement in Harris County is no nonsense and no tolerance for any breaches of the law however slight. Many who are moving here now are very well off and can afford very expensive houses so the property values have increased as development has boomed. Most places have county water but you probably will have to have a septic tack system in most older homes. Out of all the counties bordering Columbus, Harris County is the most financially well off and most populated.
West Virginia needs to find a way to court remote workers from Northeast. They could offer fabulous housing with beautiful views for a fraction of the cost of a NY brownstone.
I’m from Louisiana and visited West Virginia. It pretty scenery but you have more ignorant confederate flag wavers there than down here. Most of those hillbillies don’t even realize their state was created because the people there didn’t want slavery like the planters in Richmond.
Some comments on certain markets: Your pronunciation of Yakima exposes that you're long overdue for a PNW trip. I'm happy to see that you showed the Chattohoochie River when spotlighting Columbus, GA. That is one of my favorite riverwalks in the entire nation and if my travels had no time constraints, I could spend an entire day there. That whole region is just gorgeous. When I'm in metro Jackson (MS), most of my time is in the suburbs thankfully. I can say that Brandon, Ridgeland, and Madison are all beautiful with the big reservoir park nearby as well. It has none of the notorious issues that the core city has sadly become known for. Also, at the time that I first visited in late 2021, the metro had no Chipotle location and led me to discover one of its best competitors - Moe's Southwest Grill, which I highly recommend for its delicious tofu option. Ann Arbor gets my strongest recommendation for visitors. A beautiful, walkable, and incredibly affluent college city. Seriously, what other city with only 100K has not one but TWO Whole Foods locations? It's another city that I wish I had more time to enjoy during my visits to nearby Detroit. Shreveport is a weird one for me. The geography itself is gorgeous forest terrain, but the people have not maintained it well as an urban area. Crime is said to be very high but I have found safe places to park at and sleep in my car overnight, I shit you not. When visiting, I give my strongest recommendation to visiting the downtown riverwalk and for dining, the Well+Fed restaurant on Egan St; thankfully, the abandoned shithole house next to the Well+Fed parking lot is gone. This local mom-and-pop establishment also has a very friendly black-and-white cat that visits regularly!
Jackson is a throwback to the 1960s segregation. The city itself is heavily black, the suburbs are mostly white. E.g Clinton is 50% white, 38% black, Pearl is 62% white, 26% black. Jackson is16% white, 78.5% black. Having lived in Vicksburg, I went to Jackson a lot and drove through Shreveport to get to Dallas (and Monroe would make the list of small cities losing people). Shreveport is a bizarre place to pass through. The riverwalk didn't exist in my time, however.
I’m from Shreveport originally. It is sad to see the decline of the city. There are lots of people working hard to make it better and being a Shreveport optimist, I believe that the city will bounce back at some point. It just needs to get the ball rolling on some economic development and get the crime under control. The city is situated in a great geographic location for potential growth.
@@shvdfw it could be seen as a cheaper alternative to DFW but I don’t see the economic opportunities. The weather is just as miserable as DFW certainly. Meanwhile Ruston and Grambling are apparently investing with the expansion of Buc-ee’s.
@@shvdfwWe actually stopped at Shreveport a couple of times on the way from Vicksburg (where I was living at the time) to Dallas for vacations. It wasn't bad, it was weird in the sense that the rest of Louisiana was, like a throw back to some kind of past, an old sears that hadn't be updated much by the late 1980s (this might have been 88 or 89), a BBQ joint. Like Monroe, another weird town that we visited more often, with its old shotgun ranch houses (and then Baton Rouge/New Orleans, the chemical plants everywhere, the weird swamps, it was nice).
I wonder how other college towns are doing population-wise. With college attendance peaking or declining, I can't help but wonder whether that's affecting the population of college towns.
What West Virginia is experiencing is also California too, without the high cost of living. West Virginis need to think of something new, instead of restarting the coal mines.
I've visited Trenton Transit Center before and it definitely reflects the declining nature of the Trenton metro area. Officers at the station told me that at night it get extremely dangerous there, which as someone who has been stuck there at night before is definitely true. But as a place along the Northeast Corridor I can only wish the area the best and hope they turn a corner soon.
Smaller gen Z population then millennial population + more skepticism about the the value of a college degree. Expect a contraction in the number of colleges over the next decade. A small college in my hometown has already closed.
A-squared is simply too expensive. People who think it's cool to live in a major college town have always driven up prices. I've looked at moving back to Michigan several times since the early 90's, and Ann Arbor consistently outpaces the rest of SE Michigan (save for the West Bloomfield area.)
West Virginia as a whole is very impoverished and backward. It is also very religiously conservative which contributes to its serious problems. While it’s largest cities like Charleston, Wheeling, Huntington, and Parkersburg are all declining urban cores with depressed economies, the rural areas of the state are in even worse shape due to their complete dependence on the dying coal mining industry, their low educational attainment, the mostly low income levels and the major lack of development. The mountainous southern counties are the worst. Rampant political corruption has also hurt West Virginia and has kept the state stuck in the past. Whether or not West Virginia can eventually turn it around and start improving remains to be seen.
It's only a reflection of the rest of the state. Louisiana ranks 50th in so many things, nobody in their right mind would move here. I made up a new nickname for Louisiana: Last Place Louie.
I was born and raised in Columbus, GA and almost everyone young who gets a college degree doesn’t stay around. And the #1 place they move to is by far Atlanta since it isn’t far and offers way more opportunities for high paying, white collar careers
Ok so Ann Arbor doesn’t count on this list as it is not it’s own metro area but part of the Detroit metro. I grew up in canton right next to Ann Arbor and it’s definitely not separate from the Detroit metro.
Meh… I live in a suburb of Ann Arbor. Technically, sure, it’s all Metro-Detroit. But I haven’t been to Detroit in years, I go to Ann Arbor almost every day (I work there) so… it’s fair to say it’s its own thing to a degree. The main issue is affordability. Lots of people and a hostility towards development leads to higher and higher rents. I think it just got to a point where people just started looking at alternatives and found them in other parts of the country. Better weather, lower rent, lower insurance, lower taxes… I can’t say I blame people for leaving. Hell, I’m considering it!
@@ConservatEV having grown up in neighboring Canton and spending lots of time in Ann Arbor I can say it’s an awesome place but yes, I’ve noticed that prices on everything in Michigan are on the rise and it’s not an affordable place to live anymore which is sad and that’s why I live in Ohio now
A good friend who was born & raised in MI, now retired refuse to believe that the state is losing people as well as industry. We both worked in the automotive sector which is now struggling. Glad I left in 2002, 10 years in Chicago left 10 years ago and now in Dallas…… growing fast!
In the past, a lot of people who left Michigan moved to Florida, where are they moving now to Texas ? West : Seattle ? where are people leaving Michigan and Ohio going to? Texas ?
Only St, Tammany is gaining population; much of Metro New Orleans took a hard beating after Hurricane Ida and the related insurance crisis (almost $5,000 per year for home insurance)!
I'm pretty good with accents. I am happy to support by fellow geography nerd Brotha!!!! ❤😂 👊 ✊️ People underestimate the importance of geography upon history.
Interesting that these are scattered all over the country. I think the California metros are unique among these and stand the best chance of reversing course. The cost of living (or at least of real estate) will eventually correct itself--maybe not time for 2030, but eventually (barring a natural disaster).
California is handicapped by its horrible business climate and propensity to vote for the same "Leadership"- it's not alone. Oregon & Washington have exactly 0 good things to rave about
Think you're wrong about California. Such a large % of its population is now composed of either parasites, or those who make a living supporting/enabling the parasites, that the problem is beyond the possibility of correction. I don't propose to predict what will happen now, but its done.
There was one county removed from the Columbus MSA between this time frame which is the reason for its “decline” on paper. The city limit population of Columbus has grown over the past decade but the MSA has remained mostly flat.
Shreveport....in Dallas it is a nine-letter crossword clue for "mistake" and "Don't go there". I lived in Dallas for fourteen years and never went there, in part as a warning from people from northwestern Louisiana. My guess is that lots of people with any competence at all head as quickly as possible for Greater Dallas.
The Huntington, W. Va. mayor in his State of the City address about 20 years ago called for prayers by residents that the city turn its fortunes around. No new strategies to diversify the economy, or bring down the addiction problems, or to harness the state's universities to produce research-based industries. Just pray. That tells you why the city and state are in freefall. The leaders in West Virginia and most of Kentucky don't grasp that more modern social and economic policies are even possible, much less have any ideas for them. Bible belt thinking says do whatever the coal or tobacco kingpins want done and blame the poorest for their suffering.
You over-simplify when you state that places in West Virginia need to be more "business friendly". Of course a respect for basic economics is often lacking in many city governments but I've seen many locations that were "business friendly" make the quality of life in their cities so miserable that they were doomed never to attract a healthy tax base.
WV with its comparatively lower cost of living to other Northeastern states might be a sleeper. Many retirees with coin in their ETF accounts should consider it as the FL/Southeast alternative. However, the state has to commit to a first class medical infrastructure that nor'easterners are accustomed to. (All those potential seniors could spread some of that cheddar on crackers ) 🤠
You should visit my home Puerto Rico sometime and make a video on it. Maybe comparing traffic and landmarks to the states. It is a beautiful country, and it has lots to offer but life is really difficult (hence the dramatic population decline). Anyways great video! Cheers
Friends are inviting me to visit, would like to devote my suitcase space to essentials tough to get there; readers(eye glasses) for the elderly? Toothbrushes & paste? School supplies? Feminine products? It's just me but what I think is best and what would really be best I suggestions please.
@@dawnreneegmail we have Walmarts, Walgreens and CVSs 😁 Puerto Rico is a US territory and in many regards it’ll feel very similar. Take your usual essentials you take on a common trip around the US but you won’t find anything particularly hard to find.
I had a work assignment in PR. Was there for several months and got a chance to see a lot of it. Beautiful place, but some obvious problems. Best of luck to Puerto Rico!
Ann Arbor's a weird entry on this list -- there is a lot of new development going on both in the city and the surrounding townships, and constant complaints about high housing prices and rents. At the same time, the University of Michigan has had a growing student population. I'm not sure what is the source of the estimated population loss, but it's hard to square with all of the new residential construction. And there definitely aren't a bunch of houses and apartments units sitting empty.
Triple the city county ratio with 372258 in Washtenaw County and only 123851 Ann Arbor. The Washtenaw County even grew at the national average in Ann Arbor declining decennial of 2010. The main idea is precise neighborhoods grow in both Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan Dutch American.
New residential development around the area is possibly due to playing catch up because Ann Arbor has had a significant housing shortage for many years. And in general there is a housing shortage across the state
@@nothat0therguy992 The only way Ann Arbor is losing population while adding housing units is if household size is shrinking faster than new units are being built (and this is possible -- the number of kids in the school district has peaked and started to decline). But a housing shortage in Michigan generally? Nah. There's a shortage of *inventory* because few people want to sell and give up their 3% mortgages, but that's not the same thing as a housing shortage.
Russell County, Alabama may be on central time like the rest of the state, but Phenix City, a conurbation with Columbus across the Chatahoochee, is actually on eastern time like Columbus, making it the only part of AL not on central time. Phenix City is also the only place in the state where martial law has been declared, back in the 50s, when it was widely known as “the wickedest city in America” and the organized crime/local government assassinated a state attorney general candidate.
The California cities have the best hope I think. People will always desire the weather and the beautiful scenery. The cost of living is a difficult problem but still easier to fix than some of the other cities on here that need to undo decades of decline and completely revamp their economy.
I’d rather live in a tent in the Blue Ridge here in NC than in a mansion in Hollywood. It’s not just economy it’s: crime, corrupt politicians, anti-Christian bigotry, pedastry, pedophilia, unfriendly people, too much traffic, earthquakes, no water (it’s a desert), etc…
Shreveport has lost thousands of jobs since 1985. Manufacturing closing or relocating plants overseas and the oil bust, It's sad the city had a bright future at one time but for the past 30 years has depended on gambling. When every other state builds casinos, it puts a dent in our tourist and gambling trade. That place just can't win. There are advantages to living there over South Louisiana such as hurricane problems and a more seasonal climate. Not perfect, but I assure you it is drier and less rain.
The second generation Asians are leaving California to Austin,Denver,Boulder ,Orlando ,Raleigh/Durham,Charlotte ,and the cities of Alabama and Georgia : Augusta,Macon,Rome, Valdosta. and Jacksonville,Florida and Madison,Wisconsin and Minneapolis,Minnesota .Also new comer Asians are not settling in California anymore ,but rather in the cities mentioned .
@@cumulus1234 true, there are more Asians : Middle Eastern,Indians ,Chinese all over the North . Ohio, Detroit, etc ,even places where there were none to little
11 Oxnard CA 10 Salinas CA 9 Columbus GA 8 Peoria IL 7 Jackson MS 6 Huntington WV 5 Ann Arbor MI 4 Trenton NJ 3 Shreveport LA 2 Santa Cruz CA 1 Charleston WV Lack of jobs, brain drain, rising crime, and in CA’s case, high costs.
Sometimes staying in a poorer area is better first off it wont get built up second some places once they get money make bad decisions and make an area worse my hometown is a huge example
Mike, for Heaven's Sakes, will you please investigate your pronunciation of some of these geographic locations before posting and narrating your videos. I enjoy your videos nonetheless as an avid geography junkie, but if I wasn't certain or I am not certain, I have and will find out pronunciations when checking out unfamiliar places to me. Thank you, sir. Other than that, keep up the good work as I find your videos fun and informative.
@@evanrozsa seems midsize to me St. Louis proper only has a population of just under 300k. Where as Chicago proper is 2.7 million. So I guess I was confused.
The Jersey shore is not growing because of the gentrification real rich people in New York City and wherever are buying a home on the Jersey shore as a second home leaving it empty because from a tax standpoint it's better and using it during the summertime there's no more mad rush down the parkway on Friday night and if you see the prices of the homes close to the water they're millions of dollars so that's why the Jersey shore is losing people Trenton and Philly they got their own problems.
I'm not enjoying the top ten metro series - it feels very clickbaity, and is a departure from the more unique content I've enjoyed on this site in the past. There are lots of youtubers that do this sort of thing, and those sites typically devolve into one-sided political viewpoints. I enjoy your more personal views and videos of the places you've traveled to and am looking forward to more content like that!
No one wants to develop commerce in the cities anymore because it's easier to service the suburbs since that's where the people with cash to spend live. Feels like the solution has never changed; the people who can't afford to leave the city (or can't afford to leave anywhere for that matter) need a bigger share of the economic pie. But it's hard to do that because there's little economic opportunity because it all fled with the middle class folks. See how that's a vicious cycle? So how do we bridge that gap? Education. But you have to put schools in the cities that are as good as the ones in the suburbs to have that system work for everyone in a fair manner. So it's funny how that step is where some politicians can most easily choke out the cities; by creating education deserts inside of them. We have fantastic universities within walking distance of horrid public schools in every city in the country. I sure know for a fact we do in Milwaukee. Gotta put as much into that system from K-12 if you want our kids to be the kids who go to those colleges and get the opportunities or even better yet - make the cities they come from adapt to the future with their own capital.
@@gottalovepiano5682 Better: I used to live in the tri-cities (West Richland), and Yakima was basically next door (well, an hour away, also my dad was from Walla Walla, another hard to pronounce Washington city/town in south central WA). I always just said "Ya kih ma", "Ya kim ma" sounds like you are pronouncing the m twice (which I guess is valid, but it isn't the way I pronounce it).
@@gottalovepiano5682 I left long before high school (tap till elementary, we lived next to red mountain). Dad started work at Hanford so we moved around a lot (contracting at different nuclear plant construction sites).
Some of the logic here defies belief. It's misleading at best. Santa Cruz and other coastal cities in CA remain VERY desirable. They may be losing some poorer residents because of the cost of living and strong job opportunities elsewhere. But for those who have money, it's a very desirable place (to stay, or to move to) and hence prices haven't come down. Students competing for trailer park spots? This again suggests some movement out by some poorer residents. But these places remain VERY desirable - if they didn't, then prices would come down significantly. All the bad mouthing of California is overblown.
That's always been the case of California. Poor people move out because they can't afford to live there, rich people move in. I live in New York there's a mass Exodus of poor people out of New York and all the rich people are moving in. New York has a very stagnant population right now with the upstate definitely losing people
I'm from saint gabriel, la & the politics, crime, small time mentality/refusing to accept growth properly in many areas (yes, baton rouge i'm talking about you), many job opportunities & the infrastructure in my home "boot state" SUCK!!
I lived in Louisiana for a couple of years and that state is a horrendous mess. Horrible roads, a poorly educated populace, crushing poverty, a high crime rate throughout the state not just in cities like Shreveport, Lake Charles, or Baton Rouge. The political corruption is mind boggling. The health care is horrendous and the dietary habits of most Louisiana natives is among the worst.
Many of these Californian agricultural town’s population are being replaced by illegal immigrants. People who have not been counted by the last census. As neighborhoods become poorer the people who have been living here are leaving. Not sure if that counts as “loss of population “.
Peoria lost Caterpillar . . . 1st outsourcing much of its manufacturing to other states & countries throughout the 1990's and early 2000's, then 2nd moving it's 90-year longstanding Peoria World HQ to Chicago in 2017 for a brief stay, and 3rd most recently moving HQ to Irving, TX in 2022. Like many downstate residents already in another 70's/80's vintage exodus to Texas and points south, Caterpillar also had enough of being a life-support system for a failing Chicago and by that large proxy, a failing Illinois. Chicago is seeing the ultimate lack of productive results from consistent policy failures in the 9 decades of uninterrupted continuous Democrat rule since 1931 . . . the largest city in the state having been such a drain on tax dollars that the state itself has failed to grow and attract job-creating businesses while other states have exploded in growth, attracting Illinois residents and businesses seeking greater opportunity and better "return on the investment" of their taxes which Illinois, and cities like Peoria no longer provided. Once the "benchmark" for middle American values & psyche with a common refrain among entertainers & product marketers alike, "will it play in Peoria," the area has been seeing a "brain drain" since the Rust Belt days of the late-1970's & early-1980's with many of its most promising Boomers moving to areas with better opportunities & advancement. Already a difficult, isolated pinpoint in a stodgy hide-bound middle America - in contrast to more dynamic areas to ply a career & raise a family - Peoria's luster was never exceptionally bright, and has been tarnishing for a half century. As seen in the ultimate result of losing the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturer's HQ first to Chicago then to Texas (where many of the Peoria metro area's Boomer residents fled in the late-70's & early-80's), the pride of Peoria & its largest employer, Caterpillar has finally thrown in the towel on the state. This will further compound losses for Peoria. Each of the well-paying, skilled trades manufacturing and management jobs of Caterpillar accounted for an additional 7 jobs in other commercial, educational & related support roles. The decline between 2020 and 2022 is but the latest decline in a trend which began 50 years ago in Peoria. In the 1940's, the US was the only unscathed manufacturing power after WWII . . . in the 1950's & 1960's while Japan & Europe were still rebuilding the US commenced construction of the interstate highway system all the while with Illinois being the hub of the spokes on a distribution wheel reaching much of the US & Canada. WWII and the foregoing assessment of subsequent years produced nearly four and a half decades of growth & prosperity for CAT and Peoria. This heyday for Peoria continued thru much of the 1970's but as energy shocks rocked the US, the Rust Belt began to emerge - this was the proverbial "writing on the wall" for Peoria & Illinois that these "good old days" were numbered. Those days rapidly turned into a downward spiral with Illinois & Chicago the worst examples of US governmental bureaucratic inertia . . . and this lack of nimbleness & responsiveness to change occurred amidst competitive pressures from reemergence of European & Japanese manufacturing prowess. Between Chicago bleeding the state's productive regions with a compliant Chicago-dominated Springfield compounding the Windy City's decades of Democrat policy debacles, the "butterfly flapping its wings" as the harbinger of Illinois' death spiral's was occurring in Peoria where being the productive taxpayer for a failing welfare state led by Chicago became too much to bear. Layoffs began in earnest in the early 1980's with CAT shedding 15,000 employees between 1980 and 1984 (between 1980 and 1983, Peoria's manufacturing jobs fell by 40%). However, as late as the early-1990's, 1 in 4 Peoria area jobs were well-paying, skilled trades manufacturing jobs . . . today it's less than 1 in 10 - Peoria's Caterpillar employee headcount, already down markedly from 1970's highs, had by the turn of the century seen a further precipitous decline - and in this century headcount, which had plateaued at a respectable 32,000 in 2008, is now less than 12,000 of a total 109,100 worldwide CAT workforce . . . and those jobs are never coming back to Peoria. They may come back home to the US (the most stable, well-defended, energy self-sufficient, longest standing Constitutional republic on the planet) from other realms, but those jobs will go to Texas, Georgia, and other vibrant growth regions with well-funded schools yielding the well-trained workforce required for 21st century manufacturing, not a state or region in a policy-failure death spiral.
I hadn't heard that Cat moved their HQ to Texas. Smart move. The trouble is, I don't like hot weather. And with so many people moving to TX, the cost of living is inevitably going to go up. And Texas isn't cheap already, and being overrun with illegal immigrants. Here I am in Michigan, approaching retirement age. I like the mild summers and snowy winters, and my small place outside of a small town. I guess I'll stand pat for now.
@@andyharman3022 Sounds like a plan for folks like we retirees who can pretty much choose where we wish to live. Others will go where jobs & opportunity are . . . just as I, my wife & then toddler daughter did (from Illinois to Texas in our 20's in 1982). Texas encourages & celebrates entrepreneurs - job creators - instead of vilifying them as is becoming all too common in Blue states. You are correct that Texas is increasing in price . . . but, apparently, still far less costly given the significant numbers coming across the Red River from points west, east & north; and, yes to your point, it's undeniable that we make up in electric bills for Summer air conditioning what we don't spend on heating bills in our mild Winters. As for those who illegally trespass on our southern border, we have a Governor who is astutely giving free rides to the Sanctuary City of their choice. ruclips.net/user/shortsSkxOWBQYrus?si=6JzXn2X_1eTNgWLm
Is Toledo Metro lower than 250,000 ? In it's heyday, I heard it was around 300,000. Like John Denver sang, "Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio is like being nowhere at all". I think that's how the lyrics went. But sometimes boring is good.@@r.pres.4121
"Oxner" (Oxnard) -- really? In 53 seconds you mispronounced 2 city names (which is when I stopped watching). In a video about cities. Do your homework.
I'm a Shreveport native that has moved to Florida. My entire family has left Shreveport for other places. The city is imploding, primarily due to crime and sheer ghetto-ness. It's not politically correct to say it, but it's mainly white people getting fed up with ghetto black people's nonsense and deciding to just leave for somewhere nicer and safer. The lack of economic opportunity is also a factor: almost all my high-achieving high school friends never moved back after graduation.
Peoria itself is under 120,000. I last visited in 2017. They’ve tried to clean things up, and the airport looks especially good, but they’ve lost a lot of industry. I hadn’t realized that the metropolitan area was so populous. I was born and raised in nearby Decatur, and that’s in much worse decline. Bloomington-Normal seems to be the healthiest metro in the middle of Illinois: State Farm Insurance and Illinois State University seem to help. Springfield gets some help from being the state capital. But Chicago area voters overwhelm everyone else, and because of them and others in depressed towns I don’t see Illinois becoming attractive to businesses, or lowering taxes on individuals.
Decatur and Danville always are the 2 central Illinois smaller metros with the most unemployment, and worst population statistics. It's too bad, considering these 2 cities used to have a lot more jobs. I think you can argue that C-U does alright for itself too, besides B-N.
I’m from Shreveport originally. It is sad to see the decline of the city. There are lots of people working hard to make it better and being a Shreveport optimist, I believe that the city will bounce back at some point. It just needs to get the ball rolling on some economic development and get the crime under control. The city is situated in a great geographic location for potential growth.
The main problem is with Shreveport all the manufacturers have moved mostly to the Far East, China, Singapore ext. Those were high paying jobs. A T&T, Libby Glass and many others. Also a lot of small companies. Also, Our democrat govoner added tax’s to the Oil Field, shut it down. Oil field was doing good in Texas and other states till Biden started his War on follis fuels. Also the Governor cut the tax breaks on the movie industry. They just Moved where they could get the breaks. I guess he forgets the sales taxes the state would get from this industry and workers. And payroll taxes ! The whole State deserves better management ! All you have now is tax and spend democrats and some Rhinos running people off . Companies too !
Running to another city will not solve the problem! Stay & make it better! People used to say the same thing about Atlanta , Charlotte NC, Durham,Greensboro, Columbia South Carolina back in the day!! Now those black southern states/city are prime hot locations thanks to the progressive black political, democrat leadership
@@therealmccoy2004 yeah there are tons of Shreveport people in DFW now. However, the COL for DFW is getting really high especially if you want to live anywhere decent which could be a plus for Shreveport to draw some people back. Just need to continue the economic development and draw some decent jobs.
@@winnon992 yeah the state does no favors in helping out the business climate of Shreveport. It is amazing that the south has been booming with development and population and yet Louisiana is losing population. When’s the last time there was a construction crane in any Louisiana city besides NOLA maybe having 1? The state legislature is too focused on the culture wars versus actually doing stuff to improve the state. And they will for us to wonder why people leave until the state has no one left.
@AC-qx7eg I'm getting at the fact that losing a congressional seat after the census isn't something new for Michigan , it's been happening every ten years since 1980.
I'm not surprised Shreveport is on here. The place just seems like a dump. There's absolutely nothing to do there. And crime in the city is horrible. The neighborhood just west of I-49 and south of I-20 is the most dangerous part of the city. New Orleans is the only reason that Louisiana is still getting visitors and tourists. And that city expected to be gone soon.
Everything in Lousiana is a dump. If they didn't have LSU it would be tied with West Virginia for worst state in the country on all metrics.
@@JesusChrist2000BC
Dude, I’d live in WV all day before LA. Not even close.
I received a full scholarship to Centenary College in Shreveport and nearly decided to go there...until I visited Shreveport. The campus itself is beautiful, but everything else is just sad. Concerns about my personal safety quickly made my parents suggest to me that even with the full scholarship it wasn't worth it.
@@Bob-zh7lr Same
And on the opposite end of US Route 171 is Lake Charles another violent crime infested urban dump that is just like Shreveport, decaying, declining, and dangerous.
Jackson, MS is no big surprise. I grew up in the metro area and Jackson has no redeemable qualities that made me want to stay there.
Jackson is a smaller scale St Louis or Memphis.
I grew up there to and hated that city.
The Johnny Cash song is the only thing I can think of as a redeeming factor.
Thank you for shedding light on mid-sized metros. They don’t get enough love and always get cut off.
As someone mentioned earlier West Virginia is done dirty by it's geography being the heart of Appalachia. The lack of diversity in the state's economy is just insult to injury.
I moved to WV 8 years ago. They really need to promote tourism in the state because the beautiful hills is one of it's best assets
@@WheelcraftBicyclesain’t nothing there but yt ppl.
Chuck here, a Tar Heel, but I always hurt for West Virginia because it truly is one of our nation's most beautiful states. It's geography, though, has done it no favors as you mentioned, but John Denver knew what he was singing.. "almost heaven, West Virginia"..
The Feds destroying the coal industry didn’t help.
Nobody cares what you think, and that's ridicuous.
I used to fly for a regional airline out of Atlanta and this video was a big reminder of my time there. I've overnighted more times than I could ever count in Columbus, Peoria, Huntington, Jackson, Charleston, and Shreveport. Living in those cities is surely different than spending a few nights there but I have good memories from all of them.
Huntington, WV, is a nice place for roadgeeking though with tons of button copy and the Ohio River Bridges.
Most of West Virginia is very beautiful and scenic. But Charleston and Huntington are along major rivers, leading to endless industrial brownfields 🏭 WV definitely needs to find a way to diversify away from coal.
Charleston, Huntington, and Wheeling all need to diversify their economies but until the regressive thinking and political corruption that plagues West Virginia keeps holding the state back, nothing is going to change for the better and more prosperous West Virginians will continue to leave for better more prosperous locales.
There are only about 11,500 and declining coal workers in all of WV! The state government continued fixation on it does no favors for the state's future. It's like a 90 year old man complaining every day about his no good ex-wife that left him in like 1973. Major action is needed as this is most definitely not a location many people are seeking to relocate to. One video claiming EVERYONE was suddenly migrating there was nonsensical. It was fewer than 5,000 people but that doesn't off-set the deaths greatly exceeding births.
WV isn't even in there....................
The West Virginia mountains make it too hard to get anywhere. I don't see growth there with current transportation options.
Huntington,wv has no business, No Jobs and the taxes and there many fees
Lived in Columbus, GA for 6 months. Population decline only tells half the story. The area is in demographic decline as well. More affluent demographics have been leaving Columbus to neighboring Harris county for years. And as you mentioned, many leave the area altogether for Atlanta. If you think Columbus is bad, Macon has the same issues as Columbus but even worse.
Columbus has the second biggest corporate presence in Georgia after Atlanta though, *by FAR* - AFLAC's headquarters are there, Synovus Bank, TSYS, Panasonic Energy of America, W.C. Bradley (Char-Broil, Badlands, Lamplight)
You might as well combine Macon and Atlanta‘s Metro in 15 years; it’s only separated by on county (Monroe) and later Athens may swallowed up by the A as well. Atlanta is just that GUY
What is Harris County GA like?
@@leonation89 Suburbs of Columbus.
@@leonation89 I live in Harris County Georgia and it is growing quickly, most who live here do not like that at all. Most who live here go to Columbus and Lagrange to enjoy restaurants, shopping etc then escape back to the rural isolated county to live.
Law enforcement in Harris County is no nonsense and no tolerance for any breaches of the law however slight.
Many who are moving here now are very well off and can afford very expensive houses so the property values have increased as development has boomed. Most places have county water but you probably will have to have a septic tack system in most older homes. Out of all the counties bordering Columbus, Harris County is the most financially well off and most populated.
West Virginia needs to find a way to court remote workers from Northeast. They could offer fabulous housing with beautiful views for a fraction of the cost of a NY brownstone.
Except we don’t want Yankees here. We’d rather bring in Southerners.
I’m from Louisiana and visited West Virginia. It pretty scenery but you have more ignorant confederate flag wavers there than down here. Most of those hillbillies don’t even realize their state was created because the people there didn’t want slavery like the planters in Richmond.
@@charlesharmon4926
The southern half of what is now West Virginia sided with the Confederacy. It was conquered after the Battle of Charleston.
You don’t want those bad northeastern people
@@matthew8153confederacy lost by that logic and using the term yankee in 2023 shows why ur state is bottom 5 in every metric
I am surprised that Youngstown Ohio and Utica New York were not on this list.
Youngstown is improving
Michigan is a state where we don't have wildfires mudslides tropical storms or earthquakes. Natural beauty is only hours away up north.
Detroit probably is the best location in the country, for fresh water and weather .
Some comments on certain markets:
Your pronunciation of Yakima exposes that you're long overdue for a PNW trip.
I'm happy to see that you showed the Chattohoochie River when spotlighting Columbus, GA. That is one of my favorite riverwalks in the entire nation and if my travels had no time constraints, I could spend an entire day there. That whole region is just gorgeous.
When I'm in metro Jackson (MS), most of my time is in the suburbs thankfully. I can say that Brandon, Ridgeland, and Madison are all beautiful with the big reservoir park nearby as well. It has none of the notorious issues that the core city has sadly become known for. Also, at the time that I first visited in late 2021, the metro had no Chipotle location and led me to discover one of its best competitors - Moe's Southwest Grill, which I highly recommend for its delicious tofu option.
Ann Arbor gets my strongest recommendation for visitors. A beautiful, walkable, and incredibly affluent college city. Seriously, what other city with only 100K has not one but TWO Whole Foods locations? It's another city that I wish I had more time to enjoy during my visits to nearby Detroit.
Shreveport is a weird one for me. The geography itself is gorgeous forest terrain, but the people have not maintained it well as an urban area. Crime is said to be very high but I have found safe places to park at and sleep in my car overnight, I shit you not. When visiting, I give my strongest recommendation to visiting the downtown riverwalk and for dining, the Well+Fed restaurant on Egan St; thankfully, the abandoned shithole house next to the Well+Fed parking lot is gone. This local mom-and-pop establishment also has a very friendly black-and-white cat that visits regularly!
Jackson is a throwback to the 1960s segregation. The city itself is heavily black, the suburbs are mostly white. E.g Clinton is 50% white, 38% black, Pearl is 62% white, 26% black. Jackson is16% white, 78.5% black.
Having lived in Vicksburg, I went to Jackson a lot and drove through Shreveport to get to Dallas (and Monroe would make the list of small cities losing people). Shreveport is a bizarre place to pass through. The riverwalk didn't exist in my time, however.
@@seanmcdirmid oh I believe it, that’s the case in most cities I hit. The lower-income it feels like, the likelier it’s non-white.
I’m from Shreveport originally. It is sad to see the decline of the city. There are lots of people working hard to make it better and being a Shreveport optimist, I believe that the city will bounce back at some point. It just needs to get the ball rolling on some economic development and get the crime under control. The city is situated in a great geographic location for potential growth.
@@shvdfw it could be seen as a cheaper alternative to DFW but I don’t see the economic opportunities. The weather is just as miserable as DFW certainly. Meanwhile Ruston and Grambling are apparently investing with the expansion of Buc-ee’s.
@@shvdfwWe actually stopped at Shreveport a couple of times on the way from Vicksburg (where I was living at the time) to Dallas for vacations. It wasn't bad, it was weird in the sense that the rest of Louisiana was, like a throw back to some kind of past, an old sears that hadn't be updated much by the late 1980s (this might have been 88 or 89), a BBQ joint. Like Monroe, another weird town that we visited more often, with its old shotgun ranch houses (and then Baton Rouge/New Orleans, the chemical plants everywhere, the weird swamps, it was nice).
“…but on the bright side, you won’t have to worry about traffic congestion if you move here”
WVDOT Construction Plans: hold my beer
I wonder how other college towns are doing population-wise. With college attendance peaking or declining, I can't help but wonder whether that's affecting the population of college towns.
Madison's doing just fine.
@@Rad69Leewow the state capital isn't in decline. What a surprise
@@morewi Jackson MS and Charleston WV are state capitals and are both in decline
@@lray1948 both states are in decline so I'm not surprised
@@morewi I mean, d.c. lost population for quite a while and that's the national capital. Jackson lost population.
Love your videos, Mike, super informative and interesting.
What West Virginia is experiencing is also California too, without the high cost of living. West Virginis need to think of something new, instead of restarting the coal mines.
I’m surprised Columbus, GA made the list. I figure it was growing like Savannah and Augusta.
I was thinking the same thing. I mean even the census said it was growing
I’m surprised too. I was just there last month. A lot of building going on downtown.
Savannah is a dump. Give me Columbus any day.
I've visited Trenton Transit Center before and it definitely reflects the declining nature of the Trenton metro area. Officers at the station told me that at night it get extremely dangerous there, which as someone who has been stuck there at night before is definitely true. But as a place along the Northeast Corridor I can only wish the area the best and hope they turn a corner soon.
Population loss in university towns (Ann Arbor? Santa Cruz?) could be more pandemic remote learning than anything else, perhaps.
Smaller gen Z population then millennial population + more skepticism about the the value of a college degree. Expect a contraction in the number of colleges over the next decade. A small college in my hometown has already closed.
But in all reality. It seems like any city with a population of 50000 or more are always college towns
A-squared is simply too expensive. People who think it's cool to live in a major college town have always driven up prices. I've looked at moving back to Michigan several times since the early 90's, and Ann Arbor consistently outpaces the rest of SE Michigan (save for the West Bloomfield area.)
I thought Ann Arbor was considered part of the Detroit metro area.
Lately going to Ann arbor felt pretty empty
West Virginia as a whole is very impoverished and backward. It is also very religiously conservative which contributes to its serious problems. While it’s largest cities like Charleston, Wheeling, Huntington, and Parkersburg are all declining urban cores with depressed economies, the rural areas of the state are in even worse shape due to their complete dependence on the dying coal mining industry, their low educational attainment, the mostly low income levels and the major lack of development. The mountainous southern counties are the worst. Rampant political corruption has also hurt West Virginia and has kept the state stuck in the past. Whether or not West Virginia can eventually turn it around and start improving remains to be seen.
As a Louisianan, I’m not surprised that Shreveport is on this list.
It's only a reflection of the rest of the state. Louisiana ranks 50th in so many things, nobody in their right mind would move here. I made up a new nickname for Louisiana: Last Place Louie.
I was born and raised in Columbus, GA and almost everyone young who gets a college degree doesn’t stay around. And the #1 place they move to is by far Atlanta since it isn’t far and offers way more opportunities for high paying, white collar careers
Ok so Ann Arbor doesn’t count on this list as it is not it’s own metro area but part of the Detroit metro. I grew up in canton right next to Ann Arbor and it’s definitely not separate from the Detroit metro.
Meh… I live in a suburb of Ann Arbor. Technically, sure, it’s all Metro-Detroit. But I haven’t been to Detroit in years, I go to Ann Arbor almost every day (I work there) so… it’s fair to say it’s its own thing to a degree. The main issue is affordability. Lots of people and a hostility towards development leads to higher and higher rents. I think it just got to a point where people just started looking at alternatives and found them in other parts of the country. Better weather, lower rent, lower insurance, lower taxes… I can’t say I blame people for leaving. Hell, I’m considering it!
@@ConservatEV having grown up in neighboring Canton and spending lots of time in Ann Arbor I can say it’s an awesome place but yes, I’ve noticed that prices on everything in Michigan are on the rise and it’s not an affordable place to live anymore which is sad and that’s why I live in Ohio now
Ann Arbor is its own MSA, it's in Detroit's CSA (which is a broader definition but wider scope than Detroit's MSA)
A good friend who was born & raised in MI, now retired refuse to believe that the state is losing people as well as industry. We both worked in the automotive sector which is now struggling. Glad I left in 2002, 10 years in Chicago left 10 years ago and now in Dallas…… growing fast!
In the past, a lot of people who left Michigan moved to Florida, where are they moving now to Texas ? West : Seattle ? where are people leaving Michigan and Ohio going to? Texas ?
New Orleans is losing population, but its suburbs are growing populations.
Only St, Tammany is gaining population; much of Metro New Orleans took a hard beating after Hurricane Ida and the related insurance crisis (almost $5,000 per year for home insurance)!
Oakland,California;Camden;New Jersey; Trenton,New Jersey ;Memphis ,Tennessee .
I'm pretty good with accents. I am happy to support by fellow geography nerd Brotha!!!! ❤😂 👊 ✊️ People underestimate the importance of geography upon history.
Damn, but I love Mike's shows! They fit right in with my fascination of Interstate highways and history.
When we do the growing mid sized cities Im almost certain Knoxville will be on there
Interesting that these are scattered all over the country. I think the California metros are unique among these and stand the best chance of reversing course. The cost of living (or at least of real estate) will eventually correct itself--maybe not time for 2030, but eventually (barring a natural disaster).
California is handicapped by its horrible business climate and propensity to vote for the same "Leadership"- it's not alone. Oregon & Washington have exactly 0 good things to rave about
Think you're wrong about California. Such a large % of its population is now composed of either parasites, or those who make a living supporting/enabling the parasites, that the problem is beyond the possibility of correction. I don't propose to predict what will happen now, but its done.
My parents left Huntington for Houston when I was 1. My dad worked at the marathon plant in Kentucky and he was moved to the one in Texas City Texas.
West Virginia needs to attract tech .It is pretty. It is a pretty state ,but need tech centers
It would be interesting to track how many residents were lost during Covid since so many of these places were under resourced for Covid prevention.
There was one county removed from the Columbus MSA between this time frame which is the reason for its “decline” on paper. The city limit population of Columbus has grown over the past decade but the MSA has remained mostly flat.
Shreveport by Turboike troubadors is an absolute jam.
Salinas msa is for the whole county. I think the city is growing but the most costly areas like Monterey are pricing people out.
The indianapolis metropolitan area is actually grow quite a bit
Surprised to see Ann Arbor on there. That area is getting preachy and expensive. They want to control most things you own and do
12:26 The math is off! 258,859 - 254,914 = 3945, a 1.52% loss. That would put Huntington WV at #6.
Which metro has the worst farts?
Texarkana. They eat broccoli, eggs and beans on Friday and Saturday night.
Greeley, CO. From the meat packing plants.
Everytime i hear peoria, illinois, all i can think of is: I WAS BORN..IN..PEOH..RAH....ILLINOIS 😅😅😂😂👍👍!! #MUDBONE #THE LEGEND RICHARD PRYOR
Shreveport....in Dallas it is a nine-letter crossword clue for "mistake" and "Don't go there". I lived in Dallas for fourteen years and never went there, in part as a warning from people from northwestern Louisiana. My guess is that lots of people with any competence at all head as quickly as possible for Greater Dallas.
I left Columbus, Ga in 1975 and never looked back...
The Huntington, W. Va. mayor in his State of the City address about 20 years ago called for prayers by residents that the city turn its fortunes around. No new strategies to diversify the economy, or bring down the addiction problems, or to harness the state's universities to produce research-based industries. Just pray. That tells you why the city and state are in freefall.
The leaders in West Virginia and most of Kentucky don't grasp that more modern social and economic policies are even possible, much less have any ideas for them. Bible belt thinking says do whatever the coal or tobacco kingpins want done and blame the poorest for their suffering.
You over-simplify when you state that places in West Virginia need to be more "business friendly". Of course a respect for basic economics is often lacking in many city governments but I've seen many locations that were "business friendly" make the quality of life in their cities so miserable that they were doomed never to attract a healthy tax base.
Underrated comment
WV with its comparatively lower cost of living to other Northeastern states might be a sleeper.
Many retirees with coin in their ETF accounts should consider it as the FL/Southeast alternative.
However, the state has to commit to a first class medical infrastructure that nor'easterners are accustomed to.
(All those potential seniors could spread some of that cheddar on crackers ) 🤠
Well said, especially on the healthcare infrastructure bit. That's crucial.
You should visit my home Puerto Rico sometime and make a video on it. Maybe comparing traffic and landmarks to the states. It is a beautiful country, and it has lots to offer but life is really difficult (hence the dramatic population decline). Anyways great video! Cheers
Friends are inviting me to visit, would like to devote my suitcase space to essentials tough to get there; readers(eye glasses) for the elderly? Toothbrushes & paste? School supplies? Feminine products? It's just me but what I think is best and what would really be best I suggestions please.
@@dawnreneegmail we have Walmarts, Walgreens and CVSs 😁 Puerto Rico is a US territory and in many regards it’ll feel very similar. Take your usual essentials you take on a common trip around the US but you won’t find anything particularly hard to find.
I had a work assignment in PR. Was there for several months and got a chance to see a lot of it. Beautiful place, but some obvious problems. Best of luck to Puerto Rico!
I believe it’s part of the interstate network lol 😂
To answer the question, I was surprised by the cities in ultra-scenic areas of California.
I have friends in Michigan who can’t wait to leave. They hate it there
Ann Arbor's a weird entry on this list -- there is a lot of new development going on both in the city and the surrounding townships, and constant complaints about high housing prices and rents. At the same time, the University of Michigan has had a growing student population. I'm not sure what is the source of the estimated population loss, but it's hard to square with all of the new residential construction. And there definitely aren't a bunch of houses and apartments units sitting empty.
Triple the city county ratio with 372258 in Washtenaw County and only 123851 Ann Arbor.
The Washtenaw County even grew at the national average in Ann Arbor declining decennial of 2010.
The main idea is precise neighborhoods grow in both Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan Dutch American.
I'd argue all that growth makes the area worse more money also means more problems for everyday citizens
New residential development around the area is possibly due to playing catch up because Ann Arbor has had a significant housing shortage for many years. And in general there is a housing shortage across the state
@@nothat0therguy992 The only way Ann Arbor is losing population while adding housing units is if household size is shrinking faster than new units are being built (and this is possible -- the number of kids in the school district has peaked and started to decline). But a housing shortage in Michigan generally? Nah. There's a shortage of *inventory* because few people want to sell and give up their 3% mortgages, but that's not the same thing as a housing shortage.
Russell County, Alabama may be on central time like the rest of the state, but Phenix City, a conurbation with Columbus across the Chatahoochee, is actually on eastern time like Columbus, making it the only part of AL not on central time.
Phenix City is also the only place in the state where martial law has been declared, back in the 50s, when it was widely known as “the wickedest city in America” and the organized crime/local government assassinated a state attorney general candidate.
The California cities have the best hope I think. People will always desire the weather and the beautiful scenery. The cost of living is a difficult problem but still easier to fix than some of the other cities on here that need to undo decades of decline and completely revamp their economy.
california is a sh!t hole and getting worse...
I’d rather live in a tent in the Blue Ridge here in NC than in a mansion in Hollywood. It’s not just economy it’s: crime, corrupt politicians, anti-Christian bigotry, pedastry, pedophilia, unfriendly people, too much traffic, earthquakes, no water (it’s a desert), etc…
The Charleston stat should be a 2 in the thousandths spot of the net loss stat, not a 4!
I love Oxnard, Go Seabees!!!
Shreveport has lost thousands of jobs since 1985. Manufacturing closing or relocating plants overseas and the oil bust, It's sad the city had a bright future at one time but for the past 30 years has depended on gambling. When every other state builds casinos, it puts a dent in our tourist and gambling trade. That place just can't win. There are advantages to living there over South Louisiana such as hurricane problems and a more seasonal climate. Not perfect, but I assure you it is drier and less rain.
I bet Ann Arbor will recover, it’s got potential.
Lived in Trenton for less than a year and ....yea.... Not really into it. Loved Hamilton though, it was fairly quiet in the mid 2000s
The second generation Asians are leaving California to Austin,Denver,Boulder ,Orlando ,Raleigh/Durham,Charlotte ,and the cities of Alabama and Georgia : Augusta,Macon,Rome, Valdosta. and Jacksonville,Florida and Madison,Wisconsin and Minneapolis,Minnesota .Also new comer Asians are not settling in California anymore ,but rather in the cities mentioned .
I am seeing more Asians and people of Indian and Pakistani descent in Ohio.
@@cumulus1234 true, there are more Asians : Middle Eastern,Indians ,Chinese all over the North . Ohio, Detroit, etc ,even places where there were none to little
The state of Michigan as a whole is in a deep hole 😀
starting with state politics ,all the way down to city politics .Sucks !
11 Oxnard CA
10 Salinas CA
9 Columbus GA
8 Peoria IL
7 Jackson MS
6 Huntington WV
5 Ann Arbor MI
4 Trenton NJ
3 Shreveport LA
2 Santa Cruz CA
1 Charleston WV
Lack of jobs, brain drain, rising crime, and in CA’s case, high costs.
Sometimes staying in a poorer area is better first off it wont get built up second some places once they get money make bad decisions and make an area worse my hometown is a huge example
So where would one live if both could work anywhere?
Track the declines to the planned obsolescence of the middle class.
Mike, for Heaven's Sakes, will you please investigate your pronunciation of some of these geographic locations before posting and narrating your videos. I enjoy your videos nonetheless as an avid geography junkie, but if I wasn't certain or I am not certain, I have and will find out pronunciations when checking out unfamiliar places to me. Thank you, sir. Other than that, keep up the good work as I find your videos fun and informative.
I was really expecting to see St Louis on this list.
Not mid size.
@@evanrozsa seems midsize to me St. Louis proper only has a population of just under 300k. Where as Chicago proper is 2.7 million. So I guess I was confused.
The Greater St. Louis Metro is listed at around 2.8 million, and growing.
@@dnuts4104 You ever visited?
@@evanrozsa why yes dumb ass I live in KC MO. Have you been there lately it use to be the largest city in Missouri but now my City is.
The Jersey shore is not growing because of the gentrification real rich people in New York City and wherever are buying a home on the Jersey shore as a second home leaving it empty because from a tax standpoint it's better and using it during the summertime there's no more mad rush down the parkway on Friday night and if you see the prices of the homes close to the water they're millions of dollars so that's why the Jersey shore is losing people Trenton and Philly they got their own problems.
Yah-key-ma?
I thought Rockford was in bigger decline than Peoria.
Surprised that New England cities never seem to make the list. Seems like a constant exodus around here to Colorado, California, Florida
colorado fucking sucks if you're not outdoorsy and don't like to talk shit behind peoples' backs
Yeet yeet Milage Mike posted🤌
I hope one day to ,escape from hell hole state Michigan 🙁🙁🙁
I'm not enjoying the top ten metro series - it feels very clickbaity, and is a departure from the more unique content I've enjoyed on this site in the past. There are lots of youtubers that do this sort of thing, and those sites typically devolve into one-sided political viewpoints.
I enjoy your more personal views and videos of the places you've traveled to and am looking forward to more content like that!
so Why ?
People in Michigan are leaving for New Jersey!?!? 😂😂😂😂😂😂
My thought exactly… only thing I can think is jobs.
No one wants to develop commerce in the cities anymore because it's easier to service the suburbs since that's where the people with cash to spend live.
Feels like the solution has never changed; the people who can't afford to leave the city (or can't afford to leave anywhere for that matter) need a bigger share of the economic pie. But it's hard to do that because there's little economic opportunity because it all fled with the middle class folks. See how that's a vicious cycle?
So how do we bridge that gap? Education. But you have to put schools in the cities that are as good as the ones in the suburbs to have that system work for everyone in a fair manner. So it's funny how that step is where some politicians can most easily choke out the cities; by creating education deserts inside of them. We have fantastic universities within walking distance of horrid public schools in every city in the country. I sure know for a fact we do in Milwaukee. Gotta put as much into that system from K-12 if you want our kids to be the kids who go to those colleges and get the opportunities or even better yet - make the cities they come from adapt to the future with their own capital.
Why Jackson MS? Fire ants
You forgot West Virginia
Ya-kih-mah, not Ya-kee-me
Are you from WA?
I suggested Yak-kim-ma and told them to think of the animal, yak, for the first syllable.
@@gottalovepiano5682 Better: I used to live in the tri-cities (West Richland), and Yakima was basically next door (well, an hour away, also my dad was from Walla Walla, another hard to pronounce Washington city/town in south central WA). I always just said "Ya kih ma", "Ya kim ma" sounds like you are pronouncing the m twice (which I guess is valid, but it isn't the way I pronounce it).
@@seanmcdirmid,
What was your high school?
Go Bombers!! That should tell mine!
@@gottalovepiano5682 I left long before high school (tap till elementary, we lived next to red mountain). Dad started work at Hanford so we moved around a lot (contracting at different nuclear plant construction sites).
Some of the logic here defies belief. It's misleading at best. Santa Cruz and other coastal cities in CA remain VERY desirable. They may be losing some poorer residents because of the cost of living and strong job opportunities elsewhere. But for those who have money, it's a very desirable place (to stay, or to move to) and hence prices haven't come down. Students competing for trailer park spots? This again suggests some movement out by some poorer residents. But these places remain VERY desirable - if they didn't, then prices would come down significantly. All the bad mouthing of California is overblown.
That's always been the case of California. Poor people move out because they can't afford to live there, rich people move in. I live in New York there's a mass Exodus of poor people out of New York and all the rich people are moving in. New York has a very stagnant population right now with the upstate definitely losing people
How much of this is attributable to the pandemic?
It’s funny how mid size in america is literally a ghost town in asia
I'm from saint gabriel, la & the politics, crime, small time mentality/refusing to accept growth properly in many areas (yes, baton rouge i'm talking about you), many job opportunities & the infrastructure in my home "boot state" SUCK!!
I lived in Louisiana for a couple of years and that state is a horrendous mess. Horrible roads, a poorly educated populace, crushing poverty, a high crime rate throughout the state not just in cities like Shreveport, Lake Charles, or Baton Rouge. The political corruption is mind boggling. The health care is horrendous and the dietary habits of most Louisiana natives is among the worst.
@@r.pres.4121 all sadly true
Many of these Californian agricultural town’s population are being replaced by illegal immigrants. People who have not been counted by the last census. As neighborhoods become poorer the people who have been living here are leaving. Not sure if that counts as “loss of population “.
Kalamazoo
Peoria lost Caterpillar . . . 1st outsourcing much of its manufacturing to other states & countries throughout the 1990's and early 2000's, then 2nd moving it's 90-year longstanding Peoria World HQ to Chicago in 2017 for a brief stay, and 3rd most recently moving HQ to Irving, TX in 2022. Like many downstate residents already in another 70's/80's vintage exodus to Texas and points south, Caterpillar also had enough of being a life-support system for a failing Chicago and by that large proxy, a failing Illinois. Chicago is seeing the ultimate lack of productive results from consistent policy failures in the 9 decades of uninterrupted continuous Democrat rule since 1931 . . . the largest city in the state having been such a drain on tax dollars that the state itself has failed to grow and attract job-creating businesses while other states have exploded in growth, attracting Illinois residents and businesses seeking greater opportunity and better "return on the investment" of their taxes which Illinois, and cities like Peoria no longer provided.
Once the "benchmark" for middle American values & psyche with a common refrain among entertainers & product marketers alike, "will it play in Peoria," the area has been seeing a "brain drain" since the Rust Belt days of the late-1970's & early-1980's with many of its most promising Boomers moving to areas with better opportunities & advancement. Already a difficult, isolated pinpoint in a stodgy hide-bound middle America - in contrast to more dynamic areas to ply a career & raise a family - Peoria's luster was never exceptionally bright, and has been tarnishing for a half century. As seen in the ultimate result of losing the world's largest heavy equipment manufacturer's HQ first to Chicago then to Texas (where many of the Peoria metro area's Boomer residents fled in the late-70's & early-80's), the pride of Peoria & its largest employer, Caterpillar has finally thrown in the towel on the state. This will further compound losses for Peoria. Each of the well-paying, skilled trades manufacturing and management jobs of Caterpillar accounted for an additional 7 jobs in other commercial, educational & related support roles. The decline between 2020 and 2022 is but the latest decline in a trend which began 50 years ago in Peoria.
In the 1940's, the US was the only unscathed manufacturing power after WWII . . . in the 1950's & 1960's while Japan & Europe were still rebuilding the US commenced construction of the interstate highway system all the while with Illinois being the hub of the spokes on a distribution wheel reaching much of the US & Canada. WWII and the foregoing assessment of subsequent years produced nearly four and a half decades of growth & prosperity for CAT and Peoria. This heyday for Peoria continued thru much of the 1970's but as energy shocks rocked the US, the Rust Belt began to emerge - this was the proverbial "writing on the wall" for Peoria & Illinois that these "good old days" were numbered. Those days rapidly turned into a downward spiral with Illinois & Chicago the worst examples of US governmental bureaucratic inertia . . . and this lack of nimbleness & responsiveness to change occurred amidst competitive pressures from reemergence of European & Japanese manufacturing prowess. Between Chicago bleeding the state's productive regions with a compliant Chicago-dominated Springfield compounding the Windy City's decades of Democrat policy debacles, the "butterfly flapping its wings" as the harbinger of Illinois' death spiral's was occurring in Peoria where being the productive taxpayer for a failing welfare state led by Chicago became too much to bear. Layoffs began in earnest in the early 1980's with CAT shedding 15,000 employees between 1980 and 1984 (between 1980 and 1983, Peoria's manufacturing jobs fell by 40%). However, as late as the early-1990's, 1 in 4 Peoria area jobs were well-paying, skilled trades manufacturing jobs . . . today it's less than 1 in 10 - Peoria's Caterpillar employee headcount, already down markedly from 1970's highs, had by the turn of the century seen a further precipitous decline - and in this century headcount, which had plateaued at a respectable 32,000 in 2008, is now less than 12,000 of a total 109,100 worldwide CAT workforce . . . and those jobs are never coming back to Peoria. They may come back home to the US (the most stable, well-defended, energy self-sufficient, longest standing Constitutional republic on the planet) from other realms, but those jobs will go to Texas, Georgia, and other vibrant growth regions with well-funded schools yielding the well-trained workforce required for 21st century manufacturing, not a state or region in a policy-failure death spiral.
I hadn't heard that Cat moved their HQ to Texas. Smart move. The trouble is, I don't like hot weather. And with so many people moving to TX, the cost of living is inevitably going to go up. And Texas isn't cheap already, and being overrun with illegal immigrants. Here I am in Michigan, approaching retirement age. I like the mild summers and snowy winters, and my small place outside of a small town. I guess I'll stand pat for now.
@@andyharman3022 Sounds like a plan for folks like we retirees who can pretty much choose where we wish to live. Others will go where jobs & opportunity are . . . just as I, my wife & then toddler daughter did (from Illinois to Texas in our 20's in 1982). Texas encourages & celebrates entrepreneurs - job creators - instead of vilifying them as is becoming all too common in Blue states.
You are correct that Texas is increasing in price . . . but, apparently, still far less costly given the significant numbers coming across the Red River from points west, east & north; and, yes to your point, it's undeniable that we make up in electric bills for Summer air conditioning what we don't spend on heating bills in our mild Winters. As for those who illegally trespass on our southern border, we have a Governor who is astutely giving free rides to the Sanctuary City of their choice.
ruclips.net/user/shortsSkxOWBQYrus?si=6JzXn2X_1eTNgWLm
Yakima is not pronounced "YakEEma". YAHK - Ih - maw. Emphasis on the first syllable.
Are you from WA?
I suggested Yak-kim-ma and told them to think of the animal, yak, when pronouncing the first syllable.
Most of the country doesn’t care (myself included). Good luck with that.
Toledo, Ohio ?
That is a much larger metropolitan area and is too big for this list.
Toledo metro is less than 1 million, so qualifies for consideration in this list.
Is Toledo Metro lower than 250,000 ? In it's heyday, I heard it was around 300,000. Like John Denver sang, "Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio is like being nowhere at all". I think that's how the lyrics went. But sometimes boring is good.@@r.pres.4121
Columbus, GA is a dump. I go through there every few months and even that is too long for me.
Just like Fayetteville
If there are beautiful girls then I can live there
"Oxner" (Oxnard) -- really? In 53 seconds you mispronounced 2 city names (which is when I stopped watching). In a video about cities. Do your homework.
I think you mispronounced Salinas, Ca. I always called it Saleesinous, Ca.
Try "Sah-LEAN-us". I grew up there.
lol casinos are super corrupted and pull lots of money from people
New Jersey is bad,that’s why
How much of these population decline has to do with COVID-19 death?
COVID deaths would likely be spread out evenly by population. Maybe slightly higher among the poorer populations, but evenly spread nevertheless.
If only there were a place with the traffic of Charleston but the niceties of Virginia…
I'm from Columbus. The main issue is employment. Wages are terrible.
What are the wages
I'm a Shreveport native that has moved to Florida. My entire family has left Shreveport for other places. The city is imploding, primarily due to crime and sheer ghetto-ness. It's not politically correct to say it, but it's mainly white people getting fed up with ghetto black people's nonsense and deciding to just leave for somewhere nicer and safer. The lack of economic opportunity is also a factor: almost all my high-achieving high school friends never moved back after graduation.
Peoria itself is under 120,000. I last visited in 2017. They’ve tried to clean things up, and the airport looks especially good, but they’ve lost a lot of industry. I hadn’t realized that the metropolitan area was so populous.
I was born and raised in nearby Decatur, and that’s in much worse decline. Bloomington-Normal seems to be the healthiest metro in the middle of Illinois: State Farm Insurance and Illinois State University seem to help. Springfield gets some help from being the state capital. But Chicago area voters overwhelm everyone else, and because of them and others in depressed towns I don’t see Illinois becoming attractive to businesses, or lowering taxes on individuals.
Western Central Illinoisan here. I concur with your conclusions.
Decatur and Danville always are the 2 central Illinois smaller metros with the most unemployment, and worst population statistics. It's too bad, considering these 2 cities used to have a lot more jobs. I think you can argue that C-U does alright for itself too, besides B-N.
You dont want some of these areas to have money sometimes that makes it worse
I’m from Shreveport originally. It is sad to see the decline of the city. There are lots of people working hard to make it better and being a Shreveport optimist, I believe that the city will bounce back at some point. It just needs to get the ball rolling on some economic development and get the crime under control. The city is situated in a great geographic location for potential growth.
I think the problem with Shreveport is that dallas is 2 hours away.. Lotta folks flocked there
The main problem is with Shreveport all the manufacturers have moved mostly to the Far East, China, Singapore ext. Those were high paying jobs. A T&T, Libby Glass and many others. Also a lot of small companies. Also, Our democrat govoner added tax’s to the Oil Field, shut it down. Oil field was doing good in Texas and other states till Biden started his War on follis fuels. Also the Governor cut the tax breaks on the movie industry. They just
Moved where they could get the breaks. I guess he forgets the sales taxes the state would get from this industry and workers. And payroll taxes !
The whole State deserves better management ! All you have now is tax and spend democrats and some Rhinos running people off .
Companies too !
Running to another city will not solve the problem! Stay & make it better! People used to say the same thing about Atlanta , Charlotte NC, Durham,Greensboro, Columbia South Carolina back in the day!! Now those black southern states/city are prime hot locations thanks to the progressive black political, democrat leadership
@@therealmccoy2004 yeah there are tons of Shreveport people in DFW now. However, the COL for DFW is getting really high especially if you want to live anywhere decent which could be a plus for Shreveport to draw some people back. Just need to continue the economic development and draw some decent jobs.
@@winnon992 yeah the state does no favors in helping out the business climate of Shreveport. It is amazing that the south has been booming with development and population and yet Louisiana is losing population. When’s the last time there was a construction crane in any Louisiana city besides NOLA maybe having 1? The state legislature is too focused on the culture wars versus actually doing stuff to improve the state. And they will for us to wonder why people leave until the state has no one left.
Michigan has lost seats in the US House of Representatives after every census since 1980, when it had 19 of them. Now it only has 13 seats.
the population of Michigan has stayed around 9-10 million since 1980 and still remains at 10 million, so idk what you’re getting at here haha
@AC-qx7eg I'm getting at the fact that losing a congressional seat after the census isn't something new for Michigan , it's been happening every ten years since 1980.
@@stephenbrand5661 how does it lose a seat if the population is stagnant
@AC-qx7eg Because the rest of the country kept growing. The US had 226 million people in 1980, now it has almost 340 million.
@@AC-qx7egbecause other states are growing, snatching up seats from Michigan.